Prologue: Trails of a Broken Unicorn
Author's Note
This is the first chapter of this fanfic, I've been writting it for a while now, and some people finally convinced me to post it, I'll be working on it from now on, also, my english is not 100% mastered yet, so if you guys find any error, or something like that, please let me know, I'll go and fix it immediately
Prologue: Trails of a Broken Unicorn
" Tough the true origin of our beloved leader is shrouded in mistery and uncertainty, as to where she came from, and if the status she beared belonged to her since birth or was something she conquered herself, her story as a princess began over a thousand years ago, as both her and her sister ruled over our land, protecting it in perfect harmony, at least till envy took the best out of her sister..."
-From Dusk till Dawn: The memories of a Princess, chapter 1
The Everfree Forest, once a place feared by many, and dangerous to all who dared to set a single hoof in it, but now, is a shallow place, empitied of life; the many trees, full of leaves thick enough to block the sun, and branches strong enough to sustain the weight of a full grown bear, withered down into the earth, remaining but a path of death and despair, slowly being buried into the snow, fading away in the landscape, of nothing but darkness,snow, and solitude.
Oh the old days, in wich the forest stood strong, it's animals living a life without control or interference from Ponies, it's clouds, moving to their whim, free from the Pegasus eyes, the forest, full of life...But those days no longer matter, for nopony around was alive to live them, and those who did, are no longer between us.
The silence breaks as a fgure lurks between the dead remaining of the trees, covered in a deep dark coat, thick enough to contain the relentless cold, but with a softness that suits the body, and eases the stress on whomever is using it, dirt, covering a good part of it, as well as patches, made by several different materials, in order to repair the lothing, all showing the care the user has for this piece of fabric, and the amount of places they both had been to.
After a few minutes of walking, the figure reaches out for their destiny, an old castle, almost completely destroyed due to the hands of time, whatever "hands" mean anyway, thought the pony behind the coat, apparently the head of the Crystal Empire would frequently use that word instead of hooves, so people eventually started saying that, but now is not the time to dwell trivialities such as that, concluded the figure, while climbing down the unstable hill in wich the ruins had sunk on, due to the eventually giving in.
The figure entered the ruins, it didn't took long before reaching a closed and well preserved room, at leat preserved enough to prevent the cold from entering. The figure decided to finlly take it's coat, revealing an unicorn, his body was a light shade of gray, and his mane a dark and piercing black, his Cutie Mark, or just Mark, as ponies started calling them, since having one or not didn't really mattered anymore, was covered by another layer of fabric, this one designed as a short of bag, where the unicorn kept all his belongings, the few that he had, he stored the coat in one part of the bag, keeping still a piece of it over his head, covering his horn, as he walked down the dark corridors of the castle.
—And to think that this used to be the palace of two princess- thought the unicorn, as he proceeded down the corridors. It eventually got too dark to see, forcing him to look for a torch, he decided to use some sticks that he gathered on the way here, he tied them up together, and light them up using a special tool, that was capable of creating fire without magic, it was created on the Crystal Empire, but the one he had with him, he had made it himself, for he could not use magic, not in a place like that, it was too dangerous.
After walking some more, avoiding holes on the ground, and traps that resisted the cruelty of time and refused to break down, he finally reached out to seemed to be the mai hall, two thrones, covered in dust, one was still well preserved, the other one, however, was destroied, as it something had burned it down a long time ago, over the thrones, what seemed to be pieces of royal tapestry, but barely any part of them remained, only a few pieces of fabric, adorned with golden and dark-blue segments, respectively.
—Finally — said the pony, as he rested upon an stable bench — Everything seens to be on the right place, let me see here where it is.
The unicorn then pulled an old book from his bag, a book with a thick and hard cover, similar to leather, adorned with golden and pink ribbons, worn by time, it seemed to be some sort of biography, as it was opened, some of the pages revealed to hold blueprints of this castle, the Library page however, had a marking on it, similar to a circle, as if someone marked the location of something on the book; it took no time for the pony to find the marked spot, he then grabbed the most stable stairs he could find, and climbed up reaching for the spot.
— It should be around here...Bingo — exclaimed the unicorn, holding a jornal on his hoofs — The missing pages of the book, now that I have the whole thing, maybe I can figure out exactly what "it"is, and maybe even a way to beat "it'.
As the unicorn climbed down the stairs, a step, weakened by the humid weather, broke down, causing both the pony, and the jornal to fall, the pony managed to fall on a pile of snow that fell from a hole on the ceiling, but the jornal hit the ground, causing some of it's pages to scatter, and fall down near his torch, without much time, the unicorn dashed in the direction of the pages, grabbing them with a levitation spell before they burned down; the unicorn was happy to save his spoil, but it took no time to realize what he did, causing him to grab everything he could, and running as fast as he could.
— Shit, of all the times this could've happened, it had to be right now? Gotta get the hell out of here before is too late.
He proceeded to leave the library, and cross the next hall, then he passed trought two corridors that led into the throne room of the castle, passed that, he entered another corridor, one that seemed to have no ending, and proceeded to run again, as fast as he could, and faster than that, several of his belongings had fallen to the ground, some of wich he had memories and recordings attached, but he could not treat himself to stop and grap them, not right now, maybe, if he managed to get away, he would return to look for them.
He finally reached the end of the corridor, and proceeded to the remainings of the garden, where he was forced to stop to recover some of his breath and stamina, only if it was a simple second that he could spare, and for a single second he stopped, and for that second, he would soon pay a price too high for anypony to pay.
The snow, tht had beel falling for months nonstop, ceased, as an unpleasant sound echoed through the fallen forest, suddenly, the garden was surrounded by dark and voluptuous clouds, and soon, the entire castle was covered in mist, as the unicorn kept his guard up, for he knew what would come, and he would have to fight with all he had if he wanted to make it out of there alive, and even more if he planned on doing that without getting hurt too much.
The mist then changed, floating around as if it had will of it's own, soaring trough the garden, faster, and faster with every passing second, till the unicorn saw himself corneder near a statue, unable to move, for the mist behave as it had mass, weight, the speed it was moving made it like saws, anything it touched, would snap or get cut, and those streams of mist were moving inchs near the unicorn's neck, truly, not the most pleasant of situations, but not impossible to solve, concluded the unicorn, slowly putting his bag on the ground and grabbing some kind of bottle, with it on his hoofs, he threw it, and threw it far from where he was, making it land near the opposit end of the garden, as the bottle reached the ground and broke, magic leaked out of it, causing the mist to blindly atttack it, and absorb it.
—Luckly this thing is as dumb and blind as....well...mist I guess.
The Unicorn wasn't really good at comebacks.
—At least now I can get the hel...
Before he could say anything else, another bottle, hanging from the border of his bag, fell to the ground, shattering, and releasing another load of magic in the air, causing the surrouding mist to gatter and attack the place where te unicor was standing, he managed to avoid the major hit, but the shattered pieces of stone, broken by the impact, and propelled in the air by it, hit him, wouding him, and causing him to fall back, losing the cloth covering his head, and finally revealing his horn.
Twas not a common sight, even for times like these, a horn, smaller than the standart for an unicorn, with a shattered tip as if something grabbed it and ripped it off, but that was not the case, for it was a condition, one that he had from the moment that he was born, the cause of pin and humiliation, since such mishapen limb could not perform magic, only when he became a full grown Stalion could he use basic levitation magic, and right now, is what may save his life.
The mist then circled around him, he had dropped his bag on the fall, so he could not get any more bottles to drive the mist away, and any attemp of performing a spell could cause it to attack, for this mist..."It", is blind, and moves based on magic movement, for "It" feeds of magic, and destroy anything that can use it. The unicorn tried to fend off the mist, to no avail, he had no way to defend himself, with the mist around he could not use the envyronment around him for anything, and without the bottles, he could not outwit it, he contemplted the situation, and reached the conclusion that nothing else could be done, he would need to use hiw own magic, if only he could gather enough power to perform a quick shot,maybe the mist would follow it, and he could escape, he tried, but just didn't had enough energy to such feat, and the mist realized that.
Suddenly, the mist was lifted around him, letting him move, as if it wanted him to try.
—I'm so weak that I need help not to die? Is that what you mean? Cuz' I'll show you what I can do!!!
Claimed the unicorn, offended by the situation, he was used to be underestimated by ponies, so much that he stopped caring, but a mist, that was new
He then proceeded to gatter energy, it was a long process, giving he lacked the magic energy, but after several minutes, he had all that he needed, without a second though, he launched he ball of magc across the garden, landing far from where he stood, causing the nearby mist to attack that direction.
—Not bad for a piece of shit like me huh? — Said the unicorn, as he proceeded to leave the garden, but the moment he reached the gates, a larger amount of mist than the one he had just faced blocked the exit
— It wasn't enough...was it? — Said the unicorn to himself, his voice, fading away, as the mist took hold of his body, slowly, he started to lose his conciousness, the dark void, result of the lightless mist around him, engulfing his being, he accepted that it was indeed, his last moment of life.
— Interesting. The only sound, uttered in that endless darkness, a sound so sweet, it appeared as if an angel had spoken it, a voice so serene, it was able to bring peace to the most tortured soul, that singe word, echoed throughout the darkness in wich he unicorn resided, suddenly, light started to leak in the distance, and a feeling, as if he started to move at a great speed towards that light, till he imerged, out of the mist.
He opened his eyes, he was in the exact same spot as he stood before being taken by the mist, that was nowhere to be seen, he looked around, confused, how did he escaped, why did he escaped, who is the owner of that beaultiful voice? But that search would not take long, as a cold feeling crawled up his back, the mist, that he though dissapeared, revealed itself behind him, on top of a fallen marble statue. He could not move, the pressure seeping out aroud him, the ir, felt like chains around his body, the mist, crawiling from all directions, focusing on that single statue, to suddenly, vanish.
As he opened his eyes, blinded by the magic blast emanated from the mist, he saw a pony, the most beaultiful pony that he eyes had ever seen, her body was black as the darkest night, but her fur shone in the light of the moon, that started to sip through the clouds as they opened up in the sky, her eyes, a mix of green and blue, with shades constantly changing, as it they were made of gemstones, whose brightness changes with every possible angle, the light in hereyes, reminded him of the moon and the stars, reflected upon a lake of the most pure of waters.
— She's beaultiful— said the unicorn.
—She's too beaultiful — concluded the unicorn, as he backed away from the statue, in the exact moment mist poured from beneath, the pony, looking straight into his eyes, with the look of a young foal, that just found a new type of animal in the woods.
The mist then proceeded to attack our unicorn, that this time was able to dodge it all, he avoided all the moves, dancing throughout the dead garden, and with every succesful dodge, more and more curious the young mare would get, untill he eventually stopped, and the shots ceased, with him, now back where he was, in front of the statue, as they both looked into each others eyes once again.
—What are you? — asked the mare.
— The name's Blazing Dawn, I'm just a pony trying to survive in this...—replied the unicorn, before being interrupted.
— I didn't ask who you are, I asked what you are — Said the mare, getting closer to the unicorn.
— You look like a pony, but you don't feel as one, you have less energy than any living being I've met before, so much that all this time I believed you to be some sort of ant that crawled into this castle, but still, you've shown to have control of magic, something that you should not be able to have, so, I ask you again.
— What are you?
The unicorn trembled, as her face drew close to his, while he was still mesmerized by her beauty, the growing fear that her presence caused on him was too much to bear, causing the unicorn to run, for he knew that it was his best chance of surviving.
—Pitiful—Said the mare, sighing in disapointment— I think I gave you too much credit, you're not enough to cure me from my boredom.
The mist then started to circle around her once again, lifting her from the ground, moving so fast, wind blast started to cut throught the mountain, causing the rest of the ruin, tht were barely standing, to finally rest in dust, at the bottom of the cliff, soon the mist gathered on top of her horn, turning into a gree light, strong enough to light up the whole forest, like a lighthouse, guiding the ships back to safety during storm nights, an ironic comparison, given the true intends of the mare.
She kept ascending, as all of the mist around turned into magic, and gathered in the sphere of energy resting upon her horn, untill no more mist remained, the energy she collected spread around her, like an aura of power and destruction, her eyes, as bright as a star can be, set sight upon the unicorn, that managed to run past the gates, and straight into the forest, in an attempt to dissapear into the night, and the dead and rotten remains of the trees, on a path cleared by the light coming from the mare, that slowly closed her eyes, and with them, in a flash, the light was gone
The world stopped, nothing was moving anymore for the unicorn, that split second in wich the light returned the rule of the night to the darkness, set our hero's heart into a spiral of fear, he felt no ground upon his hooves, no smell, from either the rotten stumps around him, or from the small flowers, that managed to pierce throught the death of this forest to finally bloom, drifted in the air, no wind, no sound, nothing, but fear, for a moment, quicker than the blink of an eye, turned into an eternity, driven in nothing but despair.
The light returns, and the moment passes, fast, fastest than the mind can process, as the feelings return to the unicorn, they once again vanish, for the only thing he smells is iron, the only thing he sees is red, the only hing he feels, is pain, as the light, coming from the horn of the mare, drives in his direction in a straight line, passing throught the dead branches of the trees, deep into the forest, right into his chest, cutting throught the groudn in front of him, in a single moment, less than a second, and once again, the light was gone.
The darkness returned, slowly, the sounds of nature began once again, the mare, with a disapointed look on her face, sighted, then let the mist roam throught the land, for it is as she wants, and it is how it shall be, as she takes her leave, from thsi forgotten ruins, letting them take, a forgotten life, for that is how she wants things to be, is how she made them work, said the mare to herself, in her thoughts, as a single rain drop falls on her muzzle.
— Rain? — asked the mare, surprised — It wasn't supposed to be raining, only snow can fall in these lands!
As more and more rain drops started to fall on the ground, more confused did the mare grew, a heavy storm had formed right above her head, fierce blows of the wind, threw her off balance, the clouds, circling around her, as if a tornado were to appear any second, the mare started to panic.
— This is wrong, what is happening? What is going on? This is not how things were supposed to go! — exclaimed the mare, in shock, the clouds kept expanding, as the sun lifted in the horizon, covering the land in it's warm light, except for the forest, in wich was shielded in a thick layer of storm clouds, preventing the light from passing throught, with the exception of the lighting bolts, that with each click, lighted the whole area, one right after another, in rapid succescion, up until the dome, created by those clouds, was surrounded by an everlasting string of bolts, sealing the area, as they decended to the ground in huge volume, scorching the land.
The mare was stil in shock, never in the years she spent roaming the world, has she seen such display of power of nature, it wasn't natural, it wasn't normal, she kept reapeating to herself, trying to use her magic, and her mist, to break throught the wall of clouds and electricity surrounding her, to no avail, as the bolts kept tearing the ground apart, slowly reaching out to her, until they stopped.
She looked up, as the cluds started to ascend, aquiring the shape of a funnel, as the bolts started to draw near the top of the skies, sudenly, a single strip of light came from the top, followed by another, and another, and several others, as that thick layer of cluds, started to open holes in wich the sun could send it's rays in the area, and once again, the storm converged, the beams of light started to be reflected, in several directions, as if mirrors were placed all around the area, the bolts, started to crack around the skies, stricking trees and burning them down, the rain, pouring around the mare, followed by insanely strong winds, almost taking her into the air like a tornado, untill finally, it all reached it's peak.
All of sudden, the rain stopped, as did the wind, all of the bolts ascended once again, only to reunite in one single string of electricity, that flew around, reaching a specific point in the forest, as did the beams of light, that were all reflected untill they hit the same spot, the one where the stallion was shot.
A single moment passed, the mare, with her eyes fied on that spot, as a blast of energy came from the point of collision, leveling up the remaining mounts of dirt and dead materia, and from that spot, rose the unicorn, the lighting bolts, and the beams of light, converging in the point of his horn, creating similar sphere of energy she had created but moments ago, the unicorn was lift from the ground, still injured from the blast he took, bleeding out in the terrain in wich he stood, the energy, circling around him, slowly taking him off the ground, to a point in wich he reached an altitude only pegasus could reach, as he opened up his eyes, envolted in pure white light, as if he was not something from this world, as all of the energy converting on him was finally drained, and the clouds dissipated, he looked at the mare.
— I tried to not get thing too messy, but I guess you leave me no choice, come, devour of magic, tell me if this is enough to kill your boredom — Cried out the unicorn, as magic stirred from his horn, as he shot a blast of enormous power at the mare, a power believed to have been extincted from eons, and with that, the mare smiled, and gathering all of her power again fired another blast, similar to the one he had unleashed, mabe even stronger, as they both collided, the sound of wich echoeded across all of the land, that was shake with the impact, the lights, a piercing blue and an opposing green, shone brightet than the sun, even if for only a second, untill it all vanished, and the land returned to normal, silence, once again rose in the world, that slowly returned to it's norml self, as 6 sparkling lights shine across the land.
End of Prologue
